Women's Money Wisdom
Balancing careers, caregiving, and personal well-being is no small feat—especially for women who often carry the weight of multiple roles. From supporting aging parents to raising children and managing demanding careers, financial planning can easily take a back seat. But your financial future deserves attention, and we’re here to help you take charge.
Welcome to Women's Money Wisdom, the podcast designed to empower women with the knowledge and confidence to build financial security and achieve their dreams. Hosted by Melissa Joy, CFP®, founder of Pearl Planning, each weekly episode offers practical financial insights, expert guidance, and real conversations about money.
Join us to enhance your financial literacy, make informed decisions, and take the next step toward financial freedom. At Pearl Planning, located in Dexter, Michigan, we’re committed to helping you navigate every stage of your financial journey.
Subscribe now and start your path to financial empowerment with Women's Money Wisdom.
Investment advisory services offered by Pearl Planning, a DBA of Stephens Consulting LLC., an SEC registered investment advisor. Please remember that past performance may not be indicative of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product (including the investments and/or investment strategies recommended or undertaken by Pearl Planning, or any non-investment related content, made reference to directly or indirectly in this Podcast will be profitable, equal any corresponding indicated historical performance level(s), be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Due to various factors, including changing market conditions and/or applicable laws, the content may no longer be reflective of current opinions or positions. Moreover, you should not assume that any discussion or information contained in this podcast serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Pearl Planning. To the extent that a listener has any questions regarding the applicability of any specific issue discussed above to his/her individual situation, he/she is encouraged to consult with the professional advisor of his/her choosing. Pearl Planning is neither a law firm, nor a certified public accounting firm, and no portion of the Podcast content should be construed as legal or accounting advice. A copy of Pearl Planning’s current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request or at www.pearlplan.com. Content represents the opinion of the speaker and not necessarily that of Pearl Planning.
Women's Money Wisdom
Episode 259: Family Vision and Values with Business Coach Kelly O'Donnell
Is Your Family Operating Like a Well-Run Business?
In this episode, Melissa Joy, CFP®, explore how families can apply business strategies to create structure and intentionality at home. Our guest, Kelly O'Donnell, an expert in the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), introduces the Vision Traction Organizer (VTO)—a tool that helps families define core values, set a long-term vision, and break goals into actionable steps.
Kelly shares how identifying what truly matters can guide financial decisions, time management, and overall family priorities. She also discusses the benefits of quarterly family meetings and "same page meetings" for spouses to ensure alignment and clarity. By integrating structured planning and financial strategies, families can create a stronger sense of purpose while maintaining flexibility for life’s unexpected changes.
Whether you want to strengthen family bonds, improve communication, or set clear financial and personal goals, this episode offers practical insights to help you build a more organized and intentional family life.
Resources & Links:
📌 Connect with Kelly O'Donnell
📌 Learn more about EOS & the Vision Traction Organizer
📌 Download the VTO template:https://pearlplan.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Family-VTO-Template.pdf
The previous presentation by PEARL PLANNING was intended for general information purposes only. No portion of the presentation serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from PEARL PLANNING or any other investment professional of your choosing. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy, or any non-investment related or planning services, discussion or content, will be profitable, be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Neither PEARL PLANNING’s investment adviser registration status, nor any amount of prior experience or success, should be construed that a certain level of results or satisfaction will be achieved if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. PEARL PLANNING is neither a law firm nor accounting firm, and no portion of its services should be construed as legal or accounting advice. No portion of the video content should be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that he/she will experience a certain level of results if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. A copy of PEARL PLANNING’s current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request or at https:...
Welcome to the Women's Money Wisdom Podcast. I'm Melissa Joy, a certified financial planner and the founder of Pearl Planning. My goal is to help you streamline and organize your finances, navigate big money decisions with confidence and be strategic in order to grow your wealth. As a woman, you work hard for your money and I'm here to help you make the most of it. Now let's get into the show. And I'm here to help you make the most of it. Now let's get into the show. Just a quick note before we dive in. The information that we share is meant to educate and inspire, not serve as personalized financial advice. Everyone's situation is unique, so be sure to consult with your own financial professional for guidance that fits your life. And just so you know, the opinions shared in this podcast are my own and those of my guests, and they don't necessarily represent those of any organizations that I'm affiliated with. For more important disclosures, please go to our webpage at pearlplancom. Now let's get started.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to the Women's Money Wisdom Podcast. We have a really special topic today. I always like to talk about how the purpose of this podcast is to relate money and meaning. How do you figure out how your money can be more of a resource for your family, for your life, for yourself, and today we're going to have an expert come in and talk about how to add meaning and purpose to kind of a family game plan. We're going to use some of the ideas from the Entrepreneur Operating System and that is coming from EOS expert Kelly O'Donnell. Kelly, hi there, hi, kelly, hello, just as a brief, brief intro, kelly helps entrepreneurs and business owners get traction on a shared vision for their organization and build a healthy and cohesive leadership team. She's a professional implementer of EOS, which is the Entrepreneur Operating System, and I'm going to let you introduce that in just a moment kind of give a background, but full disclosure.
Speaker 1:Kelly is a consultant that works with Pearl Planning and helps us to understand how to organize ourselves and really have a shared vision of the future as a team. And when we were talking about the podcast she said oh, I have a great topic for you, because there's actually a way to organize the purpose of your family into what's called a vision traction organizer, and that's going to be the purpose of this podcast. So I know that vision traction organizer might not mean anything to you today, but let yourself kind of listen in and learn in this episode and I think you'll be really inspired and we'll have some resources that we could share in the show notes so that you can see the VTO yourself.
Speaker 2:That's right, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Well, Kelly, let's get started just by talking about the work that you do. What is the Entrepreneur Operating System?
Speaker 2:The Entrepreneur Operating System, or EOS as we call it, is a set of tools and a process, a way for leadership teams of entrepreneurial businesses that are scaling, looking to scale they're typically between 10 and 250 employees looking to grow A way for the leadership teams and the owners of those types of organizations to get aligned around a shared vision for their organization and then really get traction on that vision. So they're instilling discipline and accountability to make that vision come to life and finally just to stay a really healthy, cohesive group of people who love working together. And so then, once we've taught that to the leadership team, we migrate that through the rest of the organization. So everywhere you see you've got people executing on the vision and really moving all in the same direction. So it's really a way of systemizing and harmonizing all the moving parts of a business.
Speaker 1:Well, I know, both in business and life, systemizing and harmonizing can feel so overwhelming sometimes, and I know that the work that you do which I've been familiar with the concepts of EOS in my past work, history as well as we're implementing with you today, is really powerful and in so many cases, human organizations, human organizing, humans right, how are we capable, in both business and personal? And so we're going to talk through one of the core tenets of, or part processes of, the entrepreneurial operating system the vision traction organizer in a family context.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, as we get started, what is this? It's actually a document and I would tell you, if you go to the Women's Money Wisdom podcast right now, we've got a link in our show notes and resources where you could pull it up. So if you want to hit pause and say, oh, I need to look in this episode, go right there right now and you'll be able to see what we're talking about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that would. Actually that will be helpful because it's definitely a visual you want to take a look at. The Vision Traction Organizer is a way that we use. It's a tool that we use to help leadership teams of businesses get on the same page with where they're going, how they're going to get there and then how they will execute in the next three years. One year and 90 days. So it's really a way to organize their vision and get traction on.
Speaker 2:That vision is that our families can operate a little bit like a business in terms of coming together around a common set of values, a set of core focuses or passions, things that we love to do and that what we're best at, where we're going long term. So where do we want this family to go? What do we want this family to look like in 10 years? What do we expect to happen? And then really start kind of bringing that vision down to the ground and making it a reality by planning out and starting to dream a little bit about what the next three years in this family looks like.
Speaker 2:What does the next year need to look like? What do we need to accomplish this year in order to really feel productive and rewarded as a family unit. And then, from there, what does the next 90 days need to look like? So what do we, specifically, as family members, need to be working on in the next 90 days to really hit our goals for the year? So exact same process that I take leadership teams of entrepreneurial companies through. We can do with our families as well.
Speaker 1:Well, ok. So this is really resonating with me. I was so inspired when we talked about this topic because in so many cases I see financial planning as kind of a. If you're familiar with the pyramid, that is Maslow's hierarchy of needs, you might have learned in elementary or middle school. You've got to cover the basics, like you need to do your cash flow, the checkbook needs to balance at the end of the month, you need to do some basic blocking and tackling.
Speaker 1:But as you kind of get up the levels of complexity when it comes to money and wealth, then there is so much importance studies show and especially for people who have more money, there's such an importance of tying your money to purpose. That's why, for example, philanthropy can be so powerful in teaching kids of wealthy families about money, your vision and values. Your having family, shared values can be really meaningful and powerful in preserving wealth over generations. And so this actual exercise is like kind of a prescription for good concepts of wealth. And so I love having this tool, because when you just say, hey, why don't you get some purpose when it comes to your family and your money and your passions, it's like, ok, melissa, thanks a lot, but where do I go to get that, and so I feel like this is very fitting when you're looking to kind of up your game in terms of providing meaning with money, not just, you know, kind of wasting money or feeling like consumption and or hoarding is, you know, your primary purpose. So let's dig into it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. You'll see when you open this document that it's two pages. It's very simple, it's laid out graphically, so this is not overwhelming for families to tackle. I will tell you that my family, we usually do this over dinner. We'll take, you know, kind of an after dinner time and work on this, update it for the year. Usually between Christmas and New Year's is where we really dig into it for the year, but it's pretty simple.
Speaker 1:Well, who's sitting around the table? So give me the family description. Are we talking, Okay?
Speaker 2:So yeah, so it's my husband and then our two girls, so we have teenagers, and so my husband and I lead this and you know they pipe in with their ideas as well. So you'll see in a minute when I kind of describe what these different sections are, the places where maybe the parents are leading the discussion a little more and then maybe the kids are jumping in with their ideas as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, I love this Very interesting. I'm going to have it put into the video on YouTube. So we do post these both on Buzzsprout on YouTube and, if anybody wants to take a peek there, like I said, show notes or also our YouTube video. But so talk me through. Yeah, kelly's family sitting around the table. You know, maybe you haven't put away the holiday decorations yet. You got a little bit of projects on that as well. So tell me a little bit about what it kind of looks like.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you'll see when you open the document. There's eight sections, so the first section is core values, and these are likely not to change once you've kind of picked out what are the most important guiding principles to your family, and so these are, of course, going to be different for every family. A good way to start this, if you are parents, is to think about what are the characteristics in your kids that you really really love to see. What are the characteristics or the values that you hope your kids will have by the time they're adults, the things that you're really trying to instill in your children. These are also principles that guide you and your family as a unit.
Speaker 2:So one of our core values is education first, last and always, and so so that can be, that can be a guiding principle for us, and it often is. You know an example of when we use that core value and put that into practice as it relates to our money, you know, if there's a question between discretionary spending and putting money in a 529, like, our core value is education first, last and always, and so you know that that money, that 529, gets taken care of first. So your, your core values, once you've defined them. You can use, use them throughout your your year to guide your your decisions around money and many other things, of course.
Speaker 1:Well, I, first of all, I love that it seems so powerful in terms of the goals that I work with on clients, because you may think there's a process that every person should do, but in so many ways money is so personal and when you can share hey, education first, last and always when we're thinking through forks in the road, where there are decisions, you know, when your values are clear, then you can have much more clarity about how you should decide to go about things and that's very helpful for the financial planner.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Let's talk through what some other values might be, because I know that people might need some assistance and inspiration.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So again, it would be thinking about what's important to your family. So some of it doesn't have to always be so serious. So, like one of them might be, we're always on time, like that's, you know, that's, that's a core value. It's really important that if you join our family like you've got to be on time, we're you know, we're a family that's on time, so you know they don't have to be always so lofty, but really want to think about, like, what's meaningful to your family in terms of what do you value? One of my colleagues who was talking about this exercise that he had done with his family, his son, who was, I think, a college student, knew that whoever he married needed to buy into these core values in order to fit in the family. And so you know that's also a way that kids, as they grow, can say this is what my family is about, this is what's important to us, and sort of help instill that culture into the new members of the family as well.
Speaker 1:I love it. I, you know, just thinking off the top of my head for my family. When I first started dating my husband, he was much more charitably generous than I knew I I thought I was capable of, and that was something that I really valued and appreciated in our relationship and that's something we've tried to pass along generationally to do good for each other, but also others. You know the power of hard work.
Speaker 2:I imagine those would be two of your core values. Right, yeah, three to seven core values is probably the rule of thumb, so you really want to narrow it down to the ones that are really meaningful and important to your family.
Speaker 1:And this might not be a five minute exercise, but it's something to kind of chew on and work on, so it may be a couple of dinners. You got that, yeah, okay. So, moving along, you get those core values and I guess that I would think that informs you, just like within a business on. You know who we are, how we want to present ourselves and the decisions that we make.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the next section is passion. So when we work in a business, this section is usually called core focus. This is what we love to do and what we're best at. So the key for a business is staying within that core focus. So you're always working within your sweet spot. So the key for a family is to stay focused on what you're passionate about.
Speaker 2:What do you love to do, what do we love to do in this family? So this might be a big bucket of an area of passion. So for my family, one of our big buckets of passion is travel. So we're, you know, interested in travel, lake life, lakes and cottages right, our cottage is important to us. Uh, we're we're kind of a lake life family and so that's kind of a big bucket area of importance. Um, in our family, friends and family. Certainly that's one of our passion areas um, live theater, sports and music. So that's one of our areas that we are passionate about. Our whole family agrees that we love going to live theater, live sporting events and live music. So it can kind of the big bucket areas that your family might be passionate or interested in. Maybe your family is interested in national parks and so that's kind of one of your passion areas exploring all the national parks, books, like there's kind of some big areas that families can choose that all the members of the family kind of agree on.
Speaker 1:I love that. I think my family has fun with games and trivia Okay.
Speaker 2:That would not be on my list at all. I love trivia, but board games count me out. Not on my list, not on my list.
Speaker 1:Trivia more for me, but you know, thinking about the things that we enjoy spending time together, what we enjoy doing and things like that, yep, and our individual passions that are shared. Yeah, that's a great example, when you can see it, then you can evaluate whether you're investing the right amount of time and resources in these. You know kind of shared collective experiences or you know areas of emphasis, so I can see how that's valuable.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. Then the next section is a 10-year target. So this is getting yeah, this is getting you thinking long range, which I know you do a lot of when you're talking with families. You're probably looking very far out because you're asking them to think about retirement years that might be 30 years away for some people, and so we're bringing it back to about 10 years, so we're still asking families to think out a little further than they might be normally. This is a short statement, so it can be qualitative or quantitative and it's around. Actually put a date to it. So if today, you know if it's 2025, let's call it December 31st 2035.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, yeah. So what do we?
Speaker 2:want this family to look like in 2035 and do a little dreaming. So quantitative and qualitative can be either, or a mix of both. So a quantitative goal, of course, might be like maybe a net worth goal, maybe a giving goal, like a charitable you know, we hope to have given away X number of dollars in that year, so you can attach some quantitative numbers to it but it can also be qualitative. Like you know, two happy and healthy kids that are successfully launched that's a great 10-year target for a family to have.
Speaker 1:I would say so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so just a simple long-range guiding goal that everybody can see you heading toward in the next 10 years.
Speaker 1:I love that. It's also intimidating having kids that are tweens and teens to think about what 10 years?
Speaker 2:means. Yeah, actually do the math.
Speaker 1:The power of time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, so she'll be 27. He'll be 29. What does that likely look like?
Speaker 1:And then let's not even calculate our own age. Yeah right, that's right this year.
Speaker 2:That's right. Maybe you want to write in there something about your retirement plans or somebody's working part-time only or, you know, down to a few days a week. This is the place to dream a little bit and to get, if not wholly specific, just specific enough that everyone in the family can see it.
Speaker 1:I love it. Okay, this is great. And then where are we going next? What?
Speaker 2:are I mean life so powerful? Yeah, so the next section is the lifetime wish list. So these are, these are sort of your bucket listers. So this is where you take, you might take some of your passions. Let's say your passion is travel Well, maybe you're on your lifetime wish list is see the Holy lands or visit Australia. So get a little more specific around your passions and where they might take you over a lifetime. And so this is where you do a little dreaming again. So, again, vision. We're talking about some dreaming, some vision work here on the first page before we really start bringing it down to make it actionable and specific. So what's on your you know what's on your lifetime bucket list as a family? And so this is fun to have everybody kind of add theirs, because you you may find some that you didn't know about your kids or your spouse. That um is is, you know, kind of great clarity around. I didn't know you wanted to run for elected office someday, like that's cool, great. Well, kelly's been a mayor before.
Speaker 1:Mayor pro tem, that's right.
Speaker 2:That's right. Yes, yes, so that was. That was on my lifetime wish list.
Speaker 1:And check.
Speaker 2:Yes, you know, become grandparents like that. That's on our wish list. I'm not sure we can do a lot about that, but that is on our wish list. We hope to have that experience someday. So you know, listing those kind of long-term goals or wishes for yourselves and your family is really helpful to give everybody in the family clarity around. You know, what would we like to do someday.
Speaker 1:Well, if I could just interject as a financial planner, I know well there's three types of people. There's the people that are really grounded in those lifetime wish lists types of people. There's the people that are really grounded in those lifetime wish lists. There's one group of people that the lifetime wishes kind of get in the way of basic financial foundations where in this small cohort so I'm not saying everybody's like this, but you know, if you put together, put ahead, I always want, you know, I just want to do this, but every year there's something like that and it gets in the way of paying off debt, starting to save for retirement and things like that and that's a good time to have a financial plan. There's also a bigger cohort of people where they don't feel comfortable either dreaming of that wish list and or doing that wish list because they don't know how to get permission to spend, so they may have more of a scarcity mentality.
Speaker 1:We did an episode with Scott Rick, who's an author, talking about different family dynamics of the spenders and the savers, and so I'll link that in show notes. But really interesting because both, if you are always, you know, doing the big thing but never getting around to kind of some of the basics, or it's putting you behind in general, and or if you're like I have a bucket list or I don't even feel comfortable thinking of a bucket list because I just don't know that I could do that and you've got hordes of cash, or you know, but you just don't know if you would be derailed. Both of those people need a financial planner to assist as a thinking partner, either in brainstorming and it's okay if you don't. You know your wish list is. You know is relatively simple. That can be the equation for contentment. But financial planning process, while it sounds like it's not about fulfilling wishes or dreams, can really be powerful in being a thinking partner for something like this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I was just going to add on to that, because you're leading perfectly into the next section, which is the three-year picture.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's talk about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so if you're working with a financial planner and you're able to spell out some of those lifetime wishlist items, I think a financial planner exactly to your point can really help you figure out okay what needs to be true in the next three years for that to happen. So, for instance, if someone had on their lifetime wish list pay off my student loans Certainly in the next three years, you could come up with a plan around what is that? What do we need to have done in the next three years to get there?
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:You know, taking on a second job, do we need to pay off high interest debt first? You know kind of putting together a plan, and that's exactly what that three-year picture section is asking about. So it's taking a few of those items that you really hope to get to and figuring out what do we need to do in the next three years? What does the next three years in this family need to look like in order for us to be on our way to achieving what we want to achieve? And so we work together as a family to set some income and net worth and measurable goals. So when I say that, typically this is led by the parents or the spouses, because you're doing some predicting about where you expect your income to be in the next three years. Also net worth, so really some kind of grown up stuff, and then a measurable or two. So in our family, our measurable is that we have two happy, healthy adults and two happy and healthy kids, and so those are just non-monetary numbers that tell you if you're on track or off track for success, kind of big, motivating numbers that really indicate the health and wellness of the family. So for us that's what it is.
Speaker 2:For someone else, it might be something else. You know number of houses or cars or whatever. I don't know what's important to other people, but you know it's unique to your family. And so then we paint a picture around. What does it look like? What are five to 15 sort of high level bullet points around what it looks like in order for our three year picture to become true? So again, if you, you know, if you want to, maybe you have a promotion on your lifetime wishlist. You want to be the vice president of your company. Well, in the next three years you need to be a director. So you know, maybe just spelling out what you know those steps are, that gets you where you want to be.
Speaker 1:I love it. So these are both. Some can be monetary, but also just qualitative descriptors what you're aiming for to provide alignment with the decisions that you're making in the meantime.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so that's why I think this is really good to do in conjunction with financial planners, because they've you've definitely got you know sort of the holistic look at, the financial and non-financial picture of a person's sort of guiding principles and where they want to go and how they want to get there, and it's going to be really valuable to share and use as a communication tool with your financial planner.
Speaker 1:I love it, and I will note that Some people come to us and they don't have a financial planner. They have an advisor on an account that's named on the account, but really the only part of your world they're looking at is those accounts, and so that is one distinguishing factor. It's a lot bigger and it's harder work I would say, just being in the thick of it, to look outside the boundaries of any particular account, but it is really powerful because that's where we go back to that me and purpose conversation and really look to have the resources that you're accumulating, feed and fund your life, yep.
Speaker 2:So okay, talk about page two. So we got one. Yeah, so page two is the is. We call it the traction page. So it's the place that we really bring the vision down to the ground and start executing and saying, okay, if we know where we want to be in 10 years and we know what the picture needs to look like in three years, where do we need to be at the end of this year? And so that moves us into the one-year plan.
Speaker 2:Again, this is just a very small, simple section of doing some planning around what the next year needs to look like. So we're connecting it back to that three-year picture from the first page. Where do we need to be at the end of this year on our way to achieving our three-year picture in this family? And so we do some predicting again where we're at. What will our income be this year? What will our net worth be by the end of the year? What are those measurables? Two happy, healthy adults, two happy, healthy kids. Like yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And then we work as a family to set three to seven clear, aligned goals for the year. So this is again going to be connected to the three-year picture, maybe or it might be specific to this year. So I will tell you one of our family goals for this year is I have a 15-year-old turning 16, and our goal for the year is that she drives safely and that that would not yes, so that would not be a goal every year, right, like eventually. You know, next year it won't be a goal because she'll be off and running, but this year it's really important to us that she become she is a very safe driver as a 16 year old. So that's one of the three to seven most important things that happened this year. For us is that Kate is a safe driver, and I know it will happen, but just listing it as a goal just reinforces how important it is as a family for that to happen this year. So, yeah, just kind of coming together around.
Speaker 2:What are our goals for the year? We also have a senior headed to college. So one of our goals for the year is like and we also have a senior headed to college, so one of our goals for the year is like she's happy, healthy and excited to go to college in August. And, again, that's not going to be a goal next year or the year after, because we're going to be probably having different goals by then. But this year we need her. You know we want her to be excited and safely launched at college. So garage renovations, kitchen renovations, those are the types of goals that someone might put. You know, family might put on their one-year plan Like this is the year we're gonna.
Speaker 1:I love it, I can think of. We have a vacation rental, a second home. That is kind of a second business. Last year one of our goals was to hand over day-to-day management to a management company, which we did, and that was work Like. These are things that you, you know. We got a learner's permit in the mail yesterday. So same same goal. Kelly and we're going to need to set aside time as a family for those driving hours before they can. He can do the next stage. Yes, absolutely, the driving driver's license purpose.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was just looking at my list here. So one of our other goals is have a great trip to Italy in July. So we're going to Italy and it's on our list like have a successful Italy list or Italy trip, so kind of those big goals for the year. And then the next section is rocks. So in EOS terms, we call 90 day priorities rocks. So what do we want to get done in the next 90 days on our way to achieving our one year plan?
Speaker 2:In businesses we break things up into quarters, but we know that humans live in 90 day, a 90 day world. So humans for millennia have followed the seasons about nine. You know, every three months our seasons change and so every three, every three months about, we kind of start to fray and we lose focus. So we come back together every 90 days, reset our priorities and then go back and execute for the next 90 days. So an example for the next 90 days. So an example, you know, for rocks for our family.
Speaker 2:If we know that for 2025, one of our goals is to have a great Italy trip, one of our rocks for quarter one is to book all of our Italy accommodations. And that's my rock. I'm the planner. So I take accountability or responsibility for that. So we actually assign accountability under the little column that says who we want to say who's the person in our family that's going to be doing this.
Speaker 2:Well, it's mom. So pick a college. That's on our daughter. Right, yeah, in the next 90 days she's going to pick her college. And so we actually break down. Okay, if we know we want to have a successful trip to Italy, what do we need to do in the first quarter? And then, at the end of this quarter, we'll reset and say, ok, what do we need to do in the next quarter on our way to having a great trip to Italy? Well, we need to make sure all of our transportation is aligned and we have the Sistine Chapel tour booked and those sorts of things. So getting real specific in order to make sure that you hit that goal.
Speaker 1:I love it and you know there are these to-dos but I also think that creates alignment If we put it on paper, then you don't have to like keep asking each other permission thinking about when you're in a relationship and you know you have shared, there are sometimes costs to the travel and things like that. That can be really powerful to like getting off the should we or shouldn't we stage and getting into the getting things done stage.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because usually getting things done to your point involves spending money. A great example of that would be a renovation. People think about renovations for quite a while and then when you finally decide this is the year we're putting it on our goals list, we're doing the kitchen. I mean you. It really does take a full year to get ready for that. So your first 90 days you might need to finish architecture plans, and then the next 90 days. Your rock or your priority for those 90 days might be to choose a builder.
Speaker 1:And then that third where's this money coming from?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Exactly, exactly. So breaking it down quarter by quarter or 90-day kind of that 90-day world, really helps families get traction on what they say they want to do, so that we make sure that we hit those three to seven clear, aligned goals for the year.
Speaker 1:Okay, now we have one more area I think we need to cover right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the last section is an issues list.
Speaker 2:Just like with our businesses.
Speaker 2:This is kind of a long-term parking lot for things that are going on with the family and we don't really need to think about them right now, but we want to get them out of our heads so we don't forget them, and onto paper. So a good example of this might be something that you know you're going to need to do in the summer, but it's December, the end of December, right? We're back around the dinner table post-Christmas and we're thinking you know we're going to have to register for summer camp, like in May, and so throw it on that issues list so that we know that it's one of those. It's going to be a rock for probably the second quarter, second half of the, you know, the spring, but we don't need to think about it right now, but we don't want to forget. So it's a good place to get stuff, especially the mom kind of that. Have a lot of stuff in their head, out of your head. Get it onto paper, park it there until you're ready to move it into a priority for that next 90 days.
Speaker 1:Well, in my world, I often talk about triage when things get overwhelming and who's not overwhelmed nowadays? Let's be honest, especially you know many of the families that we work with two jobs, a bunch of more opportunities, more complexity, more problems. So this is the parking lot where you can say, oh, when we do our family meeting. I got to talk about this. It doesn't need to happen right now, but I'm carrying it with me every day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, get it out of your head onto the paper.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and not everything can be a rock right now, because you can't do a hundred things all at once, and so this process allows you to prioritize and say, well, we have to figure out you know, the funding for first year of college, exactly where that money is coming from after your daughter decides where she's going to go, right, yeah, right, and you may have it all sorted out. It's just from the 529, but it might be a conversation, and so that's a great place to put on the issue list, knowing that you need to pick it up in Q2 or Q3.
Speaker 2:Yep, you got it. It's just like what we do with our businesses. I mean prioritizing and planning and so you can't do it all. Three to seven is sort of the rule of thumb, and have family members Also. This is a fun one with kids. So what do you want to be doing in the next 90 days? What are your priorities? Maybe it's finishing a really long book that they have wanted to tackle, you know, the Harry Potter series, or something like that. So having those, having your kids, even if they're young, really start to think about like, what do I want to do in the next 90 days, and put those, those priorities or those goals onto paper, can really be a meaningful tool for them to start thinking about how to plan their time, how to prioritize their life, and that's a life skill that we need throughout our lives, for sure, I love it Well.
Speaker 1:as with financial planning, there's likely monitoring and maintenance, I'm assuming. What is your prescribed like? How do you plan through a year and beyond for this?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So the best way for families to monitor this and keep working on it is to come together once a quarter, just like we do with our businesses. We come together once a quarter. You're really going to focus in on the second page. So for the most part that first page, the vision page, doesn't really change throughout the year. So you're really looking at that second page where you're looking at your goals for the year and as you move throughout the year you're updating your rock section every 90 days. So just keep making forward progress on reaching those goals. You'll ask yourself at that quarter, sort of after about 90 days, come together and say are we on track or off track for our goals, and go through them one by one and say on track or off track? Anything off track, you might have to work to get back on track and maybe that involves setting a rock for next quarter. So what is the next priority we have around this goal? So every 90 days you're coming together.
Speaker 2:I also recommend that spouses take, usually once a month, for something we call a same page meeting. So in businesses this is often prescribed with if there's more than one owner or if there's a visionary and an integrator, which are two kind of specific seats within an entrepreneurial company. A same page meeting just allows that those partners to come together and really stay on the same page with the business and things that are going on in the business. And same thing with parents, so at least once, or married people at least once once a month coming together making sure we're still on the same page, making sure we're on track for what we said. We wanted to do this this quarter, just instilling good communication and bonding within the family by using this tool.
Speaker 1:Kelly, I love it. Thank you so much for sharing. I wanted to leave a moment for you to just talk a little bit about the business that you do with entrepreneurs, because I know that some of the listeners, some of our clients and friends of the pod are, you know, business owners themselves. So can you just speak a little bit about the role that you have for businesses that?
Speaker 2:hire you? Yeah, so I help businesses implement EOS, which is a very holistic and inclusive system of tools, just like the one that I just showed you today, the Vision Traction Organizer. We have loads of tools that we take entrepreneurial leadership teams through on the way to implementing EOS to run the business, and so I teach and facilitate and coach implementation sessions with entrepreneurial leadership teams. So the perfect type of client or the perfect type of company to implement EOS is entrepreneurial. As I mentioned, they're looking to grow or scale and they might be frustrated frustrated with, you know, lack of control. So the business kind of feels like it's a little bit scattered. Maybe the people aren't all moving in the same direction and that's frustrating. There might be a lack of profits. You just feel like you're kind of not you're doing the same amount and you're making less. That's a common frustration that clients will show up with. And just if you've tried a lot of different things and it just feels like nothing's working, nothing's really designed for the size and scale of my company.
Speaker 2:The entrepreneurial operating system is. It is designed for companies with 10 to 250 employees that are growing and scaling. It is proven. There's about 26,000 companies that run on EOS, so it is a very proven way to grow and scale an entrepreneurial company. Get everybody on the same page with where we're going, how we're going to get there and move forward and get traction on that vision. So, yeah, thrilled to help entrepreneurial leadership teams find out more about that process, the best way to do that. We spend about an hour to an hour and a half together, completely free, half together completely free, and I'll show you all of the tools and the process that we go through and give your team enough information to decide if it was something that they wanted to, you know, embark on as a leadership team.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, get a hold of me. Well, for those of you listening, I can't wait to hear back. If you're a loyal listener, if you decide to use the Family. Vision Traction Organizer, please let us know. I'm already making a commitment here to pitch it at home and see if we can get it done there too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, get those teenagers on board. They'll think it's fun. Eventually, I love it. Yeah, and if anybody has any questions, they can reach out to me. You'll probably put my email in the notes.
Speaker 1:Email, linkedin. Where else can we find you?
Speaker 2:I'm online at eosworldwidecom slash Kelly dash O'Donnell.
Speaker 1:Perfect, we'll have all of those links in the show notes and, kelly, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me Appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Women's Money Wisdom Podcast. If you found value in this episode. The best way you can support the podcast is to forward an episode to a friend or leave a review. The best way you can support the podcast is to forward an episode to a friend or leave a review. Go to pearlplancom and the podcast link to get all the resources and links mentioned.
